Inkjet technology is widely used for precisely and rapidly dispensing small quantities of fluid on a substrate. Inkjets eject droplets of fluid out of a nozzle by creating a short pulse of high pressure within a firing chamber. During printing, this ejection process can repeat thousands of times per second. Ideally, each ejection would result in a fluid droplet with a predetermined size that travels at a predetermined velocity to the substrate. Maintaining the performance of the droplet ejection over time ensures high quality printing over the lifetime of the print head.
Throughout the drawings, identical reference numbers designate similar, but not necessarily identical, elements.